Favorite Songs Of 2014, #14
“Seasons (Waiting On You)” – Future Islands http://youtu.be/1Ee4bfu_t3c Sometimes great songs get an extra push from a video or nationally televised performance. This is a fine example of that phenomenon, as the band’s performance on Letterman last spring nearly broke the Internet.[1] But that performance should not hide that this is a great song even without Samuel T. Herring’s wacky…
Favorite Songs Of 2014, #15
“New Skin” – Torres A song I absolutely fell in love with back in February. This was part of Weathervane Records’ Shaking Through project, in which they document the entire creative process as a song is written and recorded. For this, they took Torres, Mackenzie Scott’s stage name, and added two members of The War On Drugs (Adam Granduciel and…
Hot Sports Takes
A few quick, very hot, sports takes. CFP As an alum of the University of Kansas, I generally root for chaos when it comes to determining a college football champion. So I was pleased that there was much controversy surrounding college football’s first final four. What happened, with Ohio State leap-frogging[1] TCU and holding off Baylor after they pounded Wisconsin…
Favorite Songs Of 2014, #16
“Milwaukee” – The Both Take two legends of power pop, put them together, and magic ensues. Aimee Mann and Ted Leo sound like they’ve been playing together for decades, and their differing backgrouns (Mann coming from art rock, Leo from punk) compliment each other nicely. Bonus points for the nicely done video. It’s the nucleus burning inside of the cell…
Favorite Songs Of 2014, #17
“Too True To Be Good” – Dum Dum Girls DDG changed their sound a little for this year’s Too True release. They left behind the fuzzy, garage-rock sound of their first three albums for a darker, post-punk sound that is firmly rooted in the early–1980s. While making the musical change, Dee Dee did not lose her ability to write a…
Favorite Songs Of 2014, #18
“We Only Come Out At Night” – Sugar Stems I reserve one spot each year for a pure pop gem. This song lives up to the band’s name, sweet as sugar. Go ahead and run your mouth if you think it’ll make people think you’re smarter You always thought you knew it all anyway Previously: 20 – “Black And White”…
Fun With Editing
Over the weekend C. brought home a story she had written in class with instructions for the weekend. We were supposed to read it with her, then rewrite it to take out grammatical errors so she could record it in class on Monday. Which is a good thing. Her story, which was based on the Nutcracker, featured one very concerning…
Favorite Songs Of 2014, #19
“I Got Knocked Down (But I’ll Get Up)” – School Of Seven Bells covering Joey Ramone Normally I disqualify covers from my year end lists. But occasionally I make an exception. And no, it’s not a cover of THAT song. Rather, this is a wonderful cover of a song that Joey Ramone wrote while he was battling lymphoma, a disease…
Favorite Songs Of 2014, #20
I know many of you have been waiting all year for this, and it is finally here. Yes, time to unveil my 20 favorite songs of the past year. Rather than share the entire list up front and then post videos/audio files and comments for each one, I’m going Casey Kasem on you and unveiling them one at a time.…
⦿ Sunday Links
A lot of links to share since I didn’t get around to it last week. First, what major city has the most unpredictable weather? Kansas City is No. 1, with Indy four spots behind. Which City Has The Most Unpredictable Weather? Joe Posnanski had a couple fine pieces of writing over the last two weeks. This one, profiling what life…